


Splatoon: A New Adventure

by Wes_Sirius



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Guilt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2019-11-12 08:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18007013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wes_Sirius/pseuds/Wes_Sirius
Summary: After Callie has been rescued from DJ Octavio, Marie plans to move to the Square for a fresh start, only to run into friends, old and new. However, when the Octarians are revealed to still be on the move under the command of a new ruler more ruthless than Octavio could ever be, the agents of the New Squidbeak Splatoon may be in for the biggest adventure in their lives.





	1. Chapter 1

It was yet another sunny day for Inkopolis, and everything was just as normal as ever; squidkids are battling in Turf Wars, the Jellyfish folk are going around in their businesses, and the daring workers of Grizzco Industries are scuffling against the barbarian Salmonids for a small fortune. Among the folk of Inkopolis however, two not-so-normal Inklings are casually strolling down a pavement near an apartment block.

“It’s so nice walking around with you like the old times, Marie!” A small, peppy Inkling cheered and tossed her arms up into the air while her cousin just smiled silently behind her. Most of the Inkopolis populace had forgotten the Squid Sisters ever since Off the Hook took their role as news hosts, but both of them didn’t mind. “Sometimes, being unknown is a luxury”, their grandfather usually said.

What the public didn’t know at all was that the two popstars are also Agents 1 and 2 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, a covert society of secret agents tasked to keep the Octarians under watch and make sure they are not up to any plans to wreak havoc. They, along with a young girl codenamed Agent 3, were responsible for saving the Great Zapfish for the first time two years ago. Since the respite however, their popularity had skyrocketed, resulting in more companies requesting them for more jobs and consequently busier work schedules and less free time. Over time, their work schedules had forced them to spend less time to even see each other, and when Marie finally decided to dig up some time to spend with Callie, she had disappeared without a trace. Overridden by guilt, Marie soon quit all of her jobs and even slipped into depression, but weeks of talking with her grandfather filled her with determination to bring Callie back no matter the circumstances. She began solely working on searching for any clues to her whereabouts, but with her grandfather and the leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon gone out to a trip, Marie soon found it hard to do everything just by herself. She needed some help. Thus, she recruited a young boy, codenamed him Agent 4 and tasked him to scouting the Octo Canyon for Callie’s whereabouts. Agent 4 was reliable, excellent in the missions and fearless of anything thrown at him by the Octarians. In a span of only a single month, they successfully defeated DJ Octavio and rescued Callie and the Great Zapfish from his imprisonment. Since then, Agent 4 had gone separate paths, but he had assured Marie “If ya need me, gimme a ring. I’ll come to you immediately.”

“Yeah, it felt like forever since we last did this.” Marie was more than ready to finally make up for the lost time after rescuing her cousin. She spent 1 month contacting the police and search parties to call off the search for Callie and also to take care of her cousin by herself, feeding her and bringing her back into her prime. Callie didn’t receive the best treatment by the Octarians even when brainwashed into loyalty.

“Do we seriously still have to live in that small place in Flounder Heights?” Callie moaned. “It’s so far away from the Square!!”

“Well,” Marie smiled wryly. “I’ve been planning to rent a place around here.” She pointed at the apartment block just across the road.

“Really?!” Callie whirled around and looked at her cousin with beady eyes. “Seriously? Truthfully? Honestly? You're not squidding me, are you?!”

“Yes, yes, I'm not pulling your tentacle.” Marie nodded. “It’ll take a while, but everything should go into place.”

“YAY!!” Callie threw her arms into the air once more. “Can we go to Urchin Underpass and get those chocolate sundaes later on?”

“Hrmm, if you want.” Marie shrugged. “You know I never really liked sweet stuff.” The two cousins turned their focus back to the road in front of them and continued walking in silence, until a young boy ran and bumped right into Marie, rebounding and falling onto the pavement back-first.

“Hey, watch it, squiddo!” Marie chastised, until her vision cleared from her initial shock and she was able to make out what the boy looked like: his green tentacles were gelled into five laid-back spikes, his skin was a fair tone of peach and a small wound rested on his right arm. His yellow hoodie very much resembled the hoodie that Marie gave to Agent 4 as his uniform, and his gray shorts had a small red clip on the side of each leg. His Green Lace-Ups were visibly covered in dirt near the sole, implying he hadn’t washed his shoes for quite a while.

Most interesting however, were the headphones he was wearing. They were mostly black, but they had flashing orange lights, something that most definitely rang a bell in Marie’s mind. “T-Those are the Hero Headphones…” She slowly calculated a conclusion. “Y-You are Agent 4?!”

The boy stood up and stared at both Squid Sisters with his golden yellow eyes, and a big grin slowly formed on his face. “Well, if it isn’t the Squid Sisters. Or should I say…” He then leaned in close into Marie’s ear and whispered, “Agent 1 and Agent 2. Nice to see you girls again.”

“I called it!” Marie grinned back. “Nice to see you again too, Agent 4.”

“Um…” The boy flashed a peek at the few Inklings and Jellyfish on the pavement. “Please call me by my real name, Nicholas. Codenames would sound weird and suspicious.”

“I know.” Marie nodded. “I thought I’d never see you again, kid.”

“Hey, I did tell you I will come if you need me, didn’t I?” Nicholas reminded.

“Eh, since we’ve locked up Mr DJ, Octo Canyon has been pretty quiet. Oh and, heh…” Marie turned back to look at her cousin, who, as expected, was grinning stupidly at the boy. “Callie’s been dying to see you again.”

“I never even got to say thanks!!” Without a warning, Callie pounced on Nicholas and hugged him tightly, squeezing out a stifled gasp from him. “Ghh!!”

Although he had never told anyone, ever since he got to look at her properly after rescuing her and bringing her back to the Cuttlefish Cabin, Nicholas had been drawn to her, but he never found the courage to tell her or even seek help from anyone. _Oh geez, she’s hugging me. Oh my cod oh my cod oh my cod…_

“Heheh, c’mon Callie; you're making the kid flustered.” Marie chuckled at the sight of her handy protégé being reduced into a silent blushing wreck. Callie giggled as she let go of Nicholas and skipped back to her cousin’s side, “Thank you, Nicky.”

 _Wow, nickname already. Oh geez, this is all so sudden._ Nicholas struggled to keep his cool as he cleared his throat, “Hey, h-how about you girls come over to my place for a while? We can chat about…you-know-what there. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds like a good idea, 4.” Marie nodded. “How ‘bout you, Cal?”

“Oh, I’d love to come!” Callie jumped up and down with excitement. “Let’s go!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Squid Sisters and Nicholas start to actually talk outside of Octo Canyon, they reunite with a familiar face.

“It’s pretty small, but make yourselves at home.” Nicholas shoved open the wooden door and footsteps echoed through the empty room as the three entered. Standing at the doorway, Marie took note of the layout of the place: to the right was a small TV fixed to the wall along with a gaming console sitting on the mantelpiece. Two controllers and some remotes sat on the coffee table, while a black pair of earphones was left on the sofa. Directly behind was what seemed to be the dining area, with a small wooden table and two chairs, and anything you’d expect in a kitchen: a sink, an oven, cupboards, trays storing plates, bowls and cutlery, a stove, and a small fridge.

The left side was mostly barren, except for four doors, one of them labeled “Store”. Marie assumed one of the rooms to be the boy’s room, but she was unsure what the last room was for. She turned back to watch Nicholas, who scooted over to one of the drawers in the kitchen and slid it open and brought out tea packets and sugar packets. It took him only three minutes to brew up two fresh cups of tea for the Squid Sisters, and all three of them sat down on the dining table.

“It’s only been a month, but it felt like forever since we defeated Octavio.” Marie started. “Your help to the Squidbeak Splatoon was invaluable, Agent 4. I couldn’t imagine how long I would’ve taken to find Callie without you.”

“Heheh, it’s nothing.” Nicholas waved it off. “So, how’s the Splatoon since I went on to my own life?”

“Eh, it’s pretty good and normal.” Callie reported. “Gramps finally came back from his trip to Lapunia, just in time to meet me. You haven’t seem Gramps yet, didja?”

“Marie did mention her grandfather once, but she never went into detail.”

“Oh, I think I should tell you this.” Marie put away her mug. “Our grandfather, Captain Craig Cuttlefish, is also the founder and leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. He’s the one who leads us on missions through Octarian territory, but he’s temporarily left me in charge. Gotta rest his cuttlebones, he said.”

“SQUID SISTERS?!!” All three turned around to find a small girl standing at the doorway. Her long orange tentacles were flowing along with the slight breeze outside, and her orange eyes were affixed on the two retired squids sitting beside each other. The strap of her ink tank sagged slightly from her shoulder as she bent down to pick up the Carbon Roller sitting on the floor beside her before walking in. Everyone remained silent as the girl walked over to the small shoe rack near the door and slipped her feet out of her N-Pacer AUs and gently put them into the wooden cupboard. She then stretched herself before trotting over to one of the doors on the left side and opened it and entered the room.

A déjà vu-esque feeling rang in Marie’s mind as she observed the girl’s movements and appearance. She had seen hundreds of Inklings who sported the same hairstyle, but those sharp orange eyes felt very familiar. Too familiar, even. _Who is this girl?_

“My sister must’ve lost a lot today.” Nicholas murmured. “I can tell from her frown. She’s not happy.”

“That’s your sister?” Callie looked at her savior curiously.

“Yep. Her name’s Allison, and she’s a real cutie pie.” Nicholas smiled at a memory of his dear sister smiling sweetly. “She likes using Rollers, just like you, Callie. Maybe you two would get along. Her exact favorite Roller would be the Carbon Roller. She’s really great with it.”

“Ghh!!” Marie’s tired eyes shot wide open. That feeling of déjà vu wasn’t a silly illusion. It was true. Her wild guess was correct.

“Agent 3…” was all she could mutter.

“Hmm?” Nicholas turned his head to look at her along with Callie. “Didja say something, Marie?”

“A-Agent 4, I need to ask you about your sister…” Marie’s deep inhales barely calmed her down. “I-Is she agile and speedy when sprinting?”

“How did you know, Marie?” Nicholas narrowed his eyes at his mentor.

“Does she like…chocolate?” Marie began to silently dig through her memories. _What else does she like and is interested in?_

“Yeah, why?” Nicholas began to feel a sense of dread creeping up and he didn’t know why. _Has she met my sister before?_

“Is she good with the flute?” Marie flashed another peek at the room that Allison entered. _She could be eavesdropping and I won’t know…_

“Alright, keep your questions at bay for a while.” Nicholas stood up to full height and fixed his eyes on his mentor and co-worker. “Now lemme ask you something: how do you know so much about my sister? You two are complete strangers to each other…unless, you two have worked together before.”

“Agent 4, please let me explain.” Marie put her bare hands up in instinctive self-defense.

“Let me guess; she was the Agent 3 you spoke of in Slimeskin Garrison?”

“Yes.” Marie turned around and saw the same piercing orange eyes staring at her. “I guess you found out about the New Squidbeak Splatoon, big bro.” She slowly trudged over to the dining table. “I assume you ran into Marie, since Callie was…missing, as the news reported.”

“Huh, I'm surprised you heard the news, Agent 3.” Marie coated her voice with suppressed indignation as she stared at her former protégé, one whom she thought would stick by them no matter what happens.

“Of course I did; it was broadcasted everywhere, complete with search posters.” The girl snarked.

“So, you worked as an agent of the Splatoon too, sis?” Nicholas asked his sister.

“Yes.” She answered with a small voice. “I’ve stopped being one, though.”

“I can only imagine what made you stop.” Marie rolled her eyes, obviously knowing more than she was letting on.

“I couldn’t bear to risk my life and then make my family mourn.” Allison mumbled. Marie growled silently, but said nothing for Nicholas’ sake. _It’d be rude to argue loudly in front of the boy; with his sister, even._

Nicholas, on the other hand, caught his sister’s voice being untruthful. _She’s lying._ He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it back after some thought. _Let’s not raise conflict. She must have her own reasons to hide it, and I have a feeling this reason is kinda sensitive for her._

“Anyway,” Callie quickly cut in during the moment of silence. “Yeah, your sister is Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Gramps recruited her two years ago when the Great Zapfish first went missing. She’s a really agile girl, and proved to be reliable when it comes to Octarian business.”

“But now,” Marie kept her bitter glare fixed on Allison. “She’s cut all ties with the Splatoon, forcing me to find someone else to help me. If she were still with us, I would’ve asked her help at the first place instead of recruiting you.”

“Like I’d care.” Allison retorted. “I'm just a kid; I'm not supposed to be affiliated with all of this.”

“Your brother’s a kid too, but he did just as a great job as you!” Marie raised her voice. “And he didn’t abandon us this time; he stood by me when I needed help.”

“You know what,” Nicholas stretched out his arms to put a distance between his sister and the Squid Sisters. “Let us all drop this conversation and do what we want for now. I don’t think any of us would like to continue this talk, especially you, sis. We’ll discuss it later, but not now. Okay?”

“…You’re right, Nicky.” Callie nudged her cousin. “Let’s not make the atmosphere too hostile. Plus, we shouldn’t really be hanging around in your place for too long. Let’s go, cuz.”

“Fine.” Reluctantly, Marie took her glare off Allison and exited with Callie.

“…So,” Allison sighed tiredly as she looked at her brother. “You're now an agent, huh?”

“You guessed it.” He nodded.

“I wish you good luck.” Allison shoved her hands into her pockets and walked back into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Nicholas could only wonder whatever happened between his sister and the Squid Sisters before he entered the picture, but he decided to not ponder upon that anymore. _Note to self: ask the Squid Sisters about it if I have time. Oh well, I guess I can go for battle._

Twisting the rusted knob of the door, Nicholas stepped into his room, staring at his desk, on which his trusty Splat Dualies rested. He made a mental reminder to wash his stinking Hero Hoodie soon as he unzipped it and draped it on the metal chair. Pulling the curtains together silently, he bent down to look at a small drawer in his closet. He set his hand on the wooden knob and gently pulled it open.

 _The Hero Dualies are still in there, good._ He exhaled a sigh of relief and pushed the drawer back in. The Hero Weapons weren’t everyday weapons you can see in battles; they are powerful weapons, made for use in serious combat, and are stronger than ordinary Turf War equipment. Although Sheldon had produced toned-down replicas for use in battle, using the actual Hero Weapons in public activities would definitely be disallowed by the officials. Although Sheldon normally kept the Hero Weapons in his research lab, he had allowed Nicholas to keep a pair of the real Hero Dualies, because he was good with Dualies, so the tiny horseshoe crab trusted him with them.

 _With any luck, I may be able to win a lot of Tower Control._ He filled a tank with ink and slung it on his shoulders and clipped his Splat Dualies to his belt. Brushing some dust that had settled on his Vintage-Check Shirt, he exited his room and flashed one last peek at his sister’s room before he gently pushed the door shut behind him, setting his destination to the Square.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During what seems to be a regular game of Tower Control, Nicholas makes some interesting friends.

_Huh, not a lot of people around._ Only one side of the lobby was filled when Nicholas entered, with the green couch being empty. Not paying attention to the other Inklings, he sat down on the green couch, brought out his phone and began swiping down some blogs, most of them being about the next Splatfest, Vampires vs Warewolves. To be frank, Nicholas had never been super competitive, but he hoped to win with Vampires for this Splatfest.

“Oh yes! Finally, a lobby that isn’t filled!” Nicholas promptly lifted his head up to look at the source of the feminine voice. Standing at the lobby doorway was a small girl with short blue tentacles and beady purple eyes. A Hero Charger Replica was slung on her back, while she carried her ink tank with her right hand. Her Blue Tentatek Tee had caught some leaves on the left sleeve, and a short brown skirt covered her black shorts. She skipped over to beside Nicholas while keeping a big grin on her face and held her left hand out, “Yo! My name’s Coral Tentan!”

“Heheh, mine is Nicholas.” He moved aside to let Coral sit down. “I assume you’ve been having much trouble finding vacant lobbies.”

“Yeah, a lot of people are playing Ranked today.”

“Crystal, you know I am bad in Tower Control!” Coral stood straight up, looking at the two figures standing at the entrance. The boy that spoke held a large Octobrush in his right hand, and his face was partially obscured by his white hoodie. His black jeans were slightly crinkled, and his black boots were clean and shiny.

“Oh come on, if you are bad at something, practice it until you are good at it!” The girl beside her wore a black cap over her green tentacles and sported sea blue eyes. A mischievous grin was plastered on her face as she dangled her empty Tri-Slosher on a single finger. “That is what your sister always say, Tristan.”

Nicholas silently analyzed the two; something told him they were more than just your normal everyday hot-blooded Inklings. It was then that he noticed the girl’s eye markings; they weren’t connected above the nose. Her green tentacles also had circular marks at the tips, and although most of them were obscured by her cap, he spotted a single suction cup on the surface of a tentacle. That was enough proof for Nicholas.

“You two are…Octolings?” The two strangers stopped grinning and looked at Nicholas seriously. Sighing, the boy pulled down his hoodie, revealing his golden eyes, whose markings were unconnected too, and his four cyan tentacles, which were combed back neatly. “Yes, we are. Well, congratulations; you are the first one to discover the truth.”

“I guess, to his credit, no one else saw before him.” The girl spoke with a choppy accent just like her friend, obviously still not proficient with Inkling language.

“Eh, a number of Octolings have been integrating into Inkopolis recently.” Coral reported. “We’re okay with it, really.”

“Yeah, as long as you follow the rules of the city and live peacefully with us, we’re cool.” Nicholas assured them.

“Eh, we know that. It is just…” The girl rubbed her arms. “We heard we Octarians are still disgraced among older Inklings.”

“Nah, past is the past.” Coral waved it off. “Now, we Inklings accept you with open tentacles.”

“Heh, thank you.” The boy scratched the back of his neck. “You two are really kind.”

“Okay, enough of that talk.” The girl held out a hand. “My name is Crystal!”

“And I am Tristan.” The boy flashed the same mischievous grin. “We are happy to meet you two.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you two as well.” Nicholas quickly shook Crystal’s hand. “I'm Nicholas.”

“And I'm Coral!” She piped up.

“Alright, I guess it is time for battle?” Tristan counted the amount of Inklings in the room. “There are 8 of us here now.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Coral unslung her Charger off her back and strapped on her ink tank.

“Let’s get ready.” Nicholas brought out his Dualies and twirled them around his index fingers.

Tristan slammed his Octobrush on the ground lightly and put a palm to his chest and lifted his head up proudly, “I am always ready, my friend.”

Sighing, Crystal just shoved him away lightly, “You are an embarrassment, Tristan.”

“Attention, Lobby C.” Both Octolings jumped at the loud voice of the automatic loudspeaker. “The match is about to begin. Please ready yourselves and step onto the teleporter when you're ready.”

“Alright,” Nicholas grinned confidently. “Let’s do this.” All 8 competitors stepped onto the teleporters and disappeared in a flash.

* * *

 

“Well, Tower Control on Musselforge Fitness, huh?” Nicholas scanned the all too familiar gym. “Alright, uh…Crystal, Tristan, do you two know how to play Tower Control?”

“We know.” Tristan informed. “I am kind of bad at it, though.”

“Eh, we’re all like that in the beginning, aren’t we?” Nicholas shrugged. “I’ll be honest: I have no solid plan for this; one or two of us are just gonna try to stay on the tower while the others escort the tower and close off the opposition.”

“Well, that’s what everyone does, right?” Coral said.

“Ready? 3, 2, 1, GO!!” Both teams dashed for the tower as soon as the whistle sounded. Nicholas swam forward in the trails of green ink that Tristan drew with his Brush, heading for a small girl armed with a Squeezer. Taking advantage of being unnoticed, he popped out of the ink and fired at her, splatting her before she could swim onto the tower. He then scrambled onto the tower and helped Crystal up too, who nearly slipped off as the tower began to move.

“Alright, Crystal,” Nicholas quickly chucked a Burst Bomb at a boy with a Dynamo Roller. “This is gonna be a colorful carnage.”

“Eh, I bet you we’re going to have to retreat 15 seconds later.” Crystal mumbled as she sloshed green ink around to keep the opposing team at bay. Coral quickly sniped down a boy with a pair of Dapple Dualies Nouveau as he tried to approach the tower, and Tristan was forced to a wall by the Roller boy and was splatted by a wall of purple ink. Nicholas chucked another Burst Bomb at a boy with a Rapid Blaster Deco and inked the top of the tower again and ducked into the green pool to refill. Crystal sloshed more green ink at the Squeezer girl to drive her back, but her eyes widened at a small purple thing stuck on the side of the tower.

“SUCTION BOMB!!” Nicholas grunted in surprise within the ink and quickly swam off the tower just as the bomb went off, while Crystal hopped off at the same time, sloshing green ink in front of her to make way for her landing, only to find herself face-to-face with the Roller boy. He brought his Dynamo Roller down, ready to splat, but Crystal retaliated by bringing blocking the Roller with her Tri-Slosher in her hands. Unfortunately for her, the Dynamo’s weight was much more than the force in her arms, and she knew this standoff would most probably not end in her favor. _If only I had my own Dynamo, I could’ve knocked this guy away from me._

Thankfully, she was saved when both she and the boy saw dark green circles under his feet; he had been targeted by Tenta Missiles. She barely heard him curse in another language as he pulled his Roller away and immediately booked it, swimming in a trail of purple away from the green missiles that soon crashed down to where he was. Sighing, Crystal swam off in the direction of the tower, which had been overtaken by the Blaster boy. She swam into the scene just in time to see Tristan getting splatted by the Squeezer girl. Her green tentacles were already glowing brightly; her Special Weapon, the Ink Armor, is ready for use. Deciding now is not a good time to use it; she simply swam up the tower, alarming the Blaster boy. He spun around, finger on the trigger, only to be greeted with a quick Burst Bomb to his face, before she sloshed another wave of ink at him, turning him into a puddle of lime green.

“Well ain’t that embarrassing…” Nicholas muttered to himself as he rubbed his face, having respawned just seconds ago. As he stood up and was ready to head back into the splattlefield, he saw a green octopus ghost float into the respawn pad before Tristan popped out, mumbling something in Octarian language.

“Lemme guess,” Nicholas looked at him. “The girl with the Squeezer got you?”

“Yes. She is very good with it, I admit.”

“Yeah, we underestimated her.” Nicholas inked some dry ground around their base to charge up his Special Weapon. “I’ll go see how Coral’s doing. You go and assist your friend.”

“Understood.” He barely heard Tristan’s voice as he ducked into a trail of green ink and swam over to Coral, who was standing on one of the ramps. He saw the Dynamo boy popping out of some ink behind her, his Roller high in the air, but Nicholas only swam faster towards them. _Nope, not happening today._ Popping out of the ink, he pulled out a Burst Bomb and chucked it at the boy, stunning him and halting his attack. Growling indignantly, he leapt towards Nicholas, who raised his Dualies and pointed them at him, but the boy forgot an important fact: Coral wasn’t splatted yet.

Before Nicholas could land a hit on him, the Roller boy was immediately turned into a burst of green by a direct Charger hit on his back. Coral sighed in relief as she lowered her Charger, while Nicholas flashed her a thumbs-up in thanks before chasing the tower. He hopped from puddle to puddle and arrived to see Crystal getting shooed off the tower by the Dualie boy and the Squeezer girl. To his left, Tristan was running away from purple Blaster shots. Deciding to save Tristan first, Nicholas swam towards the Octoling, slide kicking his way to a few feet in front of the Blaster boy. The latter raised his weapon and squeezed the trigger, but Nicholas was faster and dodge rolled to the right, then rolled again forward and fired at the boy’s arm, splatting him.

“Alright,” Nicholas brushed off some violet ink lingering on his sleeve and turned around. “Let’s go and take the tower back.”

“Right on call!” Tristan’s green tentacles were glowing brightly, indicating his Special Weapon is ready for use. “It is time to unleash the Inkjet!!” His Octobrush immediately turned into a large jetpack which he quickly slung on, and its twin nozzles spurted two columns of high-pressure ink, propelling the Octoling into the air. “Let’s go!!”

Hopping from puddle to puddle, Nicholas made his way towards the tower, which was moving towards him, while Tristan began to go aggressive at the opposite team with his giant Inkjet blaster. The Dualie boy was quickly forced off the tower by Tristan’s relentless firing, while the Squeezer girl remained on the tower, albeit being increasingly pressured by the blasts. Meanwhile, the Dualie boy came face to face with Nicholas, both Dualie users fired at each other, and both missed each other. Nicholas hopped backwards, only to land in a puddle of purple, and soon a hazy purple could blurred his frontal vision.

“Ha!! Suck up my Toxic Mist, dummy!” The Dualie boy mocked as Nicholas coughed weakly, trying to scramble out of the weakening cloud. However, Coral had already seen the fight and pulled out her own Special Weapon, the Stingray. She then fired the hot pressurized ink laser at the boy, forcing him to back off from Nicholas and right into Crystal’s radius, where he was immediately splatted. Coral then used the last few seconds of the Stingray to fire at the Roller boy, who had taken the tower along with the very persistent Squeezer girl. Being ganged up by two Special Weapons, the Squeezer girl finally retreated from the tower…right into a small Autobomb that Tristan deployed. Gritting her fangs, she thrust herself over to the side, crash landing at the same time the bomb inksploded into a burst of lime green. As she recollected herself, she felt the barrel of a small gun being pressed against her head. “Sorry. Nothing personal, right?”

Nicholas stretched himself slightly after the girl was sent back to her respawn pad, getting tired the longer this match went on. Deciding to back off from the face of action for a while, he Super Jumped to Coral, who was watching from the safety of faraway, and as soon as he landed, he once again deployed his Tenta Missiles and was able to lock onto the Roller boy, who was the only one left on the tower, and the Blaster boy. He quickly fired those missiles, forcing the Roller boy to swim off the tower and into Coral’s sights and get himself splatted. Tristan and Crystal saw this opportunity and both Octolings quickly swam onto the tower, which beeped and began to advance towards Team Purple’s base. With Coral and Nicholas working together surprisingly harmoniously to shut off any opposition from the other team, it wasn’t long before the tower reached the third checkpoint for Team Green. One more ride and they will be able to earn victory.

But the other team wasn’t keen on letting that happen, especially the Squeezer girl, as she began to shout out orders for her teammates to go all-out and take the tower back. The Roller boy and the Dualie boy began to work together to take out the Octolings, while the Blaster boy swam towards Coral. With the help of his Ninja Squid ability, the Blaster was able to approach Coral undetected and splat her with a direct blast to her face. Nicholas caught sight of the assassination and began to swim towards him, but ditched it, knowing splatting him ultimately wouldn’t help them, and swam back towards the tower to help Tristan, who was being ganged up upon by the other two, only to run right back into the Squeezer girl. Nicholas raised his Dualies, and the girl quickly deployed a Splash Wall in front of her in retribution. Grunting from accidentally setting a deep foot into some purple ink around him, Nicholas rolled his eyes and simply swam away from her; he wasn’t even caring to dwindle down the opposition at this point, he just wanted to end this Tower Control battle as soon as possible. _How much longer can this tug-o-war go on?_

Coral had respawned the same time Tristan was forced off the tower by the relentless flicks of ink by the Roller boy. The two went on to a duel on ground level, with the Roller boy seemingly to be in the upper hand as Tristan struggled to hold his ground by blocking off the Roller, but he grinned a plan soon formulated in his mind, and within a split second, he ducked and harshly jabbed his Brush at the boy’s stomach, making him stumble backwards in surprise. With his opponent still confused, Tristan lifted his Brush and began swinging it faster than Usian Squid could run, splatting him in a few seconds. Just as he was about to swim back to the tower to assist his friend, he nearly jumped from a large green Stingray firing near him at the Dualie boy, severely hurting him and slowing him, enough to get splatted by a Burst Bomb from Nicholas.

“GAME!!!” Everyone froze at the victory whistle. “Team Green has successfully led the tower to Team Purple’s base first. Please head back to the lobby to get your reward.”

“YES!!!!!!” Coral jumped high up in the air. “We did it, finally!!”

“Yeah, I was getting tired for how long this match was!!” Nicholas sighed in relief and sat down in a puddle of green ink to finally rest his legs and closed his eyes as the teleporter did its magic.

* * *

 

“Well, is that not a long fight?” Crystal yawned as she slung on her ink tank. “It felt sooooooo long!”

“Yeah, I didn’t even care about splatting others anymore; I just wanted to end the match asap.” Nicholas holstered his Dualies. “Those peeps were quite the fighters, aren’t they?”

“Why thank you.” Turning around, he saw the Squeezer girl, the apparent leader of the team, approaching them. “Those boys are my friends, and we sometimes play together. The name’s Maya Atlantic, your typical A-ranked player from uptown Inkopolis.”

“Heheh, my name’s Nicholas.” The boy introduced himself. “This is Coral, and those two are Crystal and Tristan. We all just met.”

“I uh…” Tristan began to fidget slightly while grinning awkwardly. “I hope one of your teammates did not mind me shoving him in his stomach with my Brush. I think it did hurt a little.”

“Oh, it didn’t; it hurt a lot.” Tristan found himself grabbed by his shoulders and forcefully turned around to face the Roller boy, who, upon closer examination, had a dried up wound on his cheek. Tristan’s quivering and mumbling became more rapid as he stared helplessly at the Inkling, whose frown implied he didn’t take the Octoling’s attack lightly…before a smug grin replaced it and he took his hands off his shoulders. “But it’s alright, dude. I would’ve done the same if I was in your position.”

“Uhm…thank you.” Tristan bowed quickly as soon as he was released.

“That was a really great match just now; you guys are amazink too!” Maya cheered. “Ah jeez, I think I need to go now; I need to go with my brother to see my uncle. Gottagobye.” With that, she quickly zoomed out of the lobby and into the Square.

“Eh, I think I’ll go home too.” Nicholas stretched himself. “That match sapped much of my energy.”

“I’ll stay for some Turf War.” Coral held on to her Hero Charger Replica.

“So uh, if there’s nothing else to say, I’ll get going. See you guys in the future.” Waving at his three new friends, Nicholas turned away and swiftly exited the lobby.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicholas returns home and tells his sister of his new friends, while still pondering on questions yet to be answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is way shorter than the others, since I was getting fed up with wording and really wanted to get this out as soon as possible. May renovate it one day if I feel up to it.

“So, how was Tower Control, bro?” Allison did not bother taking her eyes off the next issue of her favorite novel series as her brother stepped into their home.

“Eh, it was tiring as hell, that’s for sure.” Nicholas mumbled weakly, kicking the door back into place behind him. “We were paired up with a pretty competent team, but I also got paired up with some nice peeps who know what to do.”

“I see.” Allison shoved a slightly rusted S-shaped bookmark into Page 442.  “Care to tell me who those nice teammates of yours are?”

“Uhm, let’s see…there’s Coral, a very good Charger, and then, uh…” Nicholas hesitated for a while before continuing. “And then there are these two Octolings who are friends with each other.”

“Octolings, you say?” Allison sat straight up, her orange eyes now directly staring at her brother. “Well, I too have heard of the sudden outbreak of Octolings coming to live in Inkopolis, and I usually don’t care about them unless they cause major trouble. But, I don’t think it’d hurt to ask: do those two Octolings look suspicious to you?”

“Honestly, I don’t think so.” He answered after a while. “They seem genuinely friendly and peaceful, and they don’t seem to be planning anything behind my back.”

“Well, I don’t think I’d like to suspect them anyway; that’d just be rude. Anyway, dinner’s ready. There’s steamed anchovies and fried noodles in salad and some turnip soup.” Allison beamed, proud of herself. Their mother’s signature turnip soup was not easy to replicate, but two years of retiring from Turf War and staying with her really paid off.

“Oh, yeeeesss.” Nicholas licked his fangs. “Anyway, I’ll have a quick bath.”

“The rice’s still cookin’, so take your time.” His sister reassured.

“Alright, see you.” With that, he walked back to his room. Putting his Dualies back onto the table and his ink tank underneath it, he sat down on his small bed and began to pull off his shirt, exposing his chest and abdomen, which are rather pale compared to his limbs. _Huh, probably because that part doesn’t have to endure the sun like my arms._ He stretched his hand out to grab a woolly blue towel sitting at the end of his bed, wrapped it around himself and strolled off into the bathroom.

 _Nothing better than a refreshing splash after some heated battles._ As the safe, filtered water streamed down his head and down his cheeks, his train of thoughts floated back to his sister’s apparent disagreement about…something with the Squid Sisters, which resulted in her…leaving(?) the Squidbeak Splatoon till now. He doesn’t exactly know what the disagreement was or how long she left, but something definitely happened between the three girls. _And this probably isn’t gonna play out well in the future if it keeps up…_

He then thought back to how it was revealed his own sister was his predecessor in the Splatoon. He was a little surprised he took it so casually, as in he didn’t freak out and ask a billion questions at her. That’s what you’d usually do when you suddenly discover your own younger sister is, or _was_ , a secret agent working against an entire army, with no one else but said army, her leader and her co-workers knowing about this. _Eh, I trust in my sis. She’s great. Maybe I can ask her a thing or two about her life as…nah, maybe not. She seems to resent being an agent, for…whatever happened between her and the Squid Sisters._

Putting on a fresh, maroon jumper and some knee-level shorts, he yawned and pushed the door open to walk back out, heading for the sweet aroma of the bowl of turnip soup at the dining table. “Need a helping tentacle with that, sis?” He pointed at the metal ladle, which was trembling along with her unsure hand.

“Actually, yeah.” She dumped the soup back into the pot and moved aside to let her brother take this into his hands. With one hand holding the orange bowl and the other holding the ladle, he scooped up some of the stew, turnips, carrot slices and onion slices floating within, and poured it gracefully into the container. “Careful, sis. It’s really hot, damn.”

“Yeah, it is.” Allison gently set it down beside the plate with more rice. Nicholas put the cover back on the pot and put the ladle in the sink. He then sat down at the table with his sister and the siblings began to eat in silence, not having much to talk about. That is, until Allison finally mustered the courage to speak to her brother, “Uhm, bro, I wanna ask you something.”

“What is it?” He looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

“…How did you discover and began to work for the Squidbeak Splatoon?”

 _I should’ve anticipated her asking this._ He cleared his throat, “Well, ‘twas about a month ago; I was walking out of Deca after a good streak in Turf War, then I saw Marie, standing there with her kimono and brella. She looked like she’s trying to hide her face, so I decided to approach her, then she lifted her head up and both of us looked at each other for a while. Then she turned into a squid and disappeared down the manhole she was standing on. My curiosity took over and I decided to follow her to wherever that led to.”

“I ended up at Octo Canyon; Tentakeel Outpost, to be exact. Marie said she saw potential in me, and explained the Zapfish thing to me, and requested me to help her. I was kinda hesitating at first, but seeing she’s all alone in this, with no one around to help, I decided to go for it. I had zero clue about the Octarians at that time, but I gave it a shot. I became Agent 4.”

“So you bumped into Marie, I see?” Allison stabbed another slice of carrot with her fork. “How do you feel about being a secret agent, fighting an army?”

“I dunno; I can say it’s exciting? It’s risky, I know, but I handled it pretty well. We hopped from kettle to kettle, sector to sector, invading military bases, retrieving stolen Zapfishes and fighting Octobosses. But then after I destroyed the Octostomp, Marie told me another reason she was fighting the Octarians again: Callie had gone missing too, and the clues all pointed at the Octarians.”

“Yeah, I heard about Callie’s disappearance during a news broadcast.” Allison flashed back to shock she felt when she saw Off the Hook discussing about her former partner and mentor’s disappearance, although the shock was short-lived. “So, you rescued her?”

“Yeah, she was brainwashed by Octavio, but I and Marie managed to save her.” Images and voices of that fateful battle at the arena under the Cephalon HQ came back to Nicholas. “In the end, I used a special Rainmaker provided by Sheldon to destroy Octavio’s mech once and for all.”

“Good job on defeating Mr DJ once again.” With that, her attention went back to the cuisines on the table, and with nothing else to talk about, both siblings went back to finishing their dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agent 4 returns to the Canyon to find a new partner, and a very unusual mission from the norm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bold indicates dialogue in Octarian language.

“Come again soon, squiddo!” Sheldon waved at Nicholas as he exited Ammo Knights. The boy had sent his old Splattershot for a repair after its handle suffered a large crack mid-Turf War, and with everything important having been taken care of, he prepared to Super Jump back home…until a strong hand settled on his hoodie and tugged him backwards, making him yelp.

“M-Marie!” He was relieved not many Inklings were around. “What’s your problem?!”

Without a sound, and with one hand holding her parasol to conceal her face, her other hand made a strange gesture all too familiar for Nicholas. _I have a mission for you; come with me._

“Alright, whatever you say.” He waited for his leader to descend into the sewer tunnels first before following after her.

“Here we are.” Marie closed her parasol and trudged over to Cuttlefish Cabin, with Nicholas popping out behind her. “So, this mission will be a bit different from what you usually did, Agent 4.”

“How so?” Nicholas walked over to the Ammo Knights Enhancifier sitting near the shooting range and flipped open its red cover to grab a Hero Shot stored inside.

“First off, you will not be invading a plethora of narrow, floating platforms; you’ll be invading a full-on lab and prison. I’ve gotten intel that there are Inklings being held prisoner there, and they are about to be guinea pigs for this new bioweapon the Octarians are developing.”

“Whoa, hold up. Now that is sure different.” Nicholas grabbed his Hero Headphones, which were on the old, beat-up couch near the manhole. “Now, you’ve never sent me at a lab, nor had you ever talked about Octarians developing bioweapons or them holding Inklings prisoner.”

“That’s because all of that’s the bigger picture.” Marie picked up a small box filled with papers and took it to a small table near the cabin. “Why did you invade those military bases? Because you want to retrieve the Zapfishes held there, so that we can halt the movements at the base and at the same time rescue the baby Zapfishes, but now that the Zapfish thing is out of the way, we’re about to deal with the more complicated stuff. It’s time to dive into the root of those Octo-jerks’ recent movements.”

“Recent movements?” Agent 4 parroted. “Like what?”

“Like the aforementioned bioweapons.” Marie pulled out one of the scrolls in the box and spread it out on the table, revealing a messy, yet detailed drawing of a building. “Recently, there’s been a lot of development in not just new weapons, but also bioweapons that can directly affect our body and maybe even kill. We can’t have that. However, the intel isn’t very detailed, so I’ll need you to head into the lab and snag some more clues about this bioweapon they’re developing and also free those poor squids before they become crash dummies.”

“Oh man, this is more complicated than what we usually did.” The boy scratched his head in worry.

“Of course it is, so you're not gonna go in there alone.” Marie took out her phone and put the speaker near her mouth. “You can head over here now, 5.”

“On my way, Marie!” A familiar voice replied, and a split-second later, a cyan Super Jump reticule appeared at the shooting range, alarming Nicholas. Three seconds later, a tall figure landed gracefully on the reticule, the edges her black jacket whipping in the slight breeze. Her long black-and-cyan tentacles, which were dotted with large suction cups, waved around as she lifted her head up, revealing her beautiful multicolored eyes. This cephalopod was definitely no stranger to Nicholas.

“Marina?” He exclaimed. “What are y- oh wait,” Realization hit him like a tsunami wave and his eyes widened, “Oh _wait_ …Marie, you recruited her as a new agent, didn’t you?”

“Bingo.” Marina tapped her own headphones, which were the ones she usually uses on air, and held out a hand. “You must be Agent 4! Nice to meet ya!”

“Well, ain’t this a surprise.” Nicholas mumbled to himself as he accepted the handshake. “I guess we’re gonna work together in the future, huh?”

“Yep, and you two are gonna work together on this mission as well.” Marie tapped the table twice to get both agents’ attention. “You two will start from here. Marina built a secret kettle for us to enter through without appearing in front of a hundred Octarians. You still gotta lay low until you successfully enter the lab, and don’t even think about dashing for the front door; there are dozens of guards in the front, and once the alarm goes off, not even the correct passcode will open the door. Here’s how you're gonna get in: every day, an Octarian should be depositing a cart of stuff into the lab. You're gonna try to hitch a ride without getting caught by them.”

“We can do that.” Marina shifted her eyes around the map to look at the layout of the place.

“If you can enter without getting spotted, then you're solid. Though, we have no idea what the interior looks like, so you two will have to improvise from there on.”

“I thought you’d have a more solid plan than this.” Nicholas snarked.

“Hey, we had not much, if any clue about those bases you invaded, yet you came out in one piece every single time.” Marie turned it back on the boy. “However, you won’t be completely helpless, for Marina may be able to pick some locks.” She looked up to face the Octoling in question. “Can you?”

“Oh c’mon, you saw me do it so many times.” She pulled out a few metal tools from her pocket.

“Very well then.” Marie clapped her palms together. “I wish you two good luck, agents.”

“So, you're Agent 4, huh?” Marina held onto her Hero Splatling. “Marie says you're really capable.”

“Eh, I guess that is true?” He muttered humbly. “I did take on the Octarian bases and the Octoweapons by myself without much problem.”

“Heh, you better not let my expectations down.” A mischievous grin crept up on her face.

“No promises.” Together, the two Super Jumped away to the new kettle in Slimeskin Garrison.

**Later on…**

“ **Put it outside the armory.** ” The elite commanded the Octoling holding a cart of boxes. “ **He’ll research them later on** _._ ”

“ **Understood** _._ ” The boy pushed the cart down the dark corridors silently, brushing past other Octarians marching away to their businesses, until he reached a smooth, metal door that looked identical to all the other doors. With one hand holding on the cart, he punched into a code in the keypad beside the door, which promptly slid aside.

“ **Yo, how’s it going, lil’ Ida?** ” The sole Octoling in the room dropped his screwdriver and looked up, facing the fellow soldier with the cart. “ **Here’s weapon parts for your boss** _._ ”

“ **O-Oh, alright. I will take care of them until he returns** _._ ” Trenton walked away from the workbench to take the cart and its contents, while the other Octoling nodded and exited the room. As he began to take the boxes and put them on the table, a black figure silently slipped out underneath the cart, undetected by the boy until he felt the cold barrel of a Shooter pressed against the back of his head, along with a greeting in foreign tongue.

“How’s it going?” Agent 4 kept his stare fixed at the Octoling’s left arm, which was only a few inches away from the Octo Shot clipped to his belt. If he dared to retaliate, Agent 4 would just pull the trigger and splat him, or maybe just heavily injure him.

“ **P-Please don’t hurt me!** ” Trenton did not know who this Inkling is or what he is saying or what he wants, but one thing he knew for sure is he will be splatted if he tried to fight back. He dared not grab the gun hanging on his belt, for he knew the Inkling would just splat him clean off if he tried.

**_“You crybaby coward! You never tried to fight for yourself; what would you do if you came across those vicious Inklings?! Beg for mercy? They ain’t gonna show that!”_ **

**_“You want those Inklings to splat you like an annoying Smallfry? If not, then grab a gun and act like a real soldier, not a coward!!”_ **

**_“In this world, it’s killed or be killed, boy. Only the strongest and the most merciless can survive.”_ **

_No…I don’t want to die…I have to fight..._

Agent 4 jumped back as the soldier quickly pulled out his own Octo Shot and delivered a punch to his torso. The Inkling in the room began to back off as the soldier began to fire at him, a frantic look on his face. Unknown to him, Agent 5 had come out of her hiding spot as well and swooped up to behind him, “ **I'm sorry, brother** _._ ”

“Huh?!” The soldier couldn’t say anything else or continue firing as Marina grabbed one of his wrists to restrain him, while her other hand took hold of his Octo Shot, yanked it out of his hands and threw it aside, rendering him defenseless. His eyes widened and he tried to pull away from her grip, to no avail. He whirled around to face her, intending to try and pull away from her again, but immediately stopped when he saw the same beautiful, multicolored eyes and long black-and-teal tentacles he’d known for his entire life.

“M-Marina?” The boy barely contained the tears that are threatening to escape his eyes. **“Is that really you?”**

“Trenton, my brother,” Agent 4 nearly dropped his Hero Shot at Marina’s words. “ **We meet again.** ”

“What?!” Marie’s loud exclamation quickly interrupted the apparent reunion. “Marina Ida, explain to me what you just said, right now!”

“Well, I suspected he is related to ‘Rina in some way, judging by his tentacles.” Agent 4 kept his stare fixed on Trenton, who possessed shorter tentacles with a color pattern identical to Marina. “So it turns out he’s her brother, huh?”

“Yes, he is.” Marina admitted. “He’s easily scared, and if pushed enough, he can freak out and go into a breakdown. You saw it just now, 4. Truth is, he’s just not the one who likes to fight. But, you know, the military isn’t gonna accept cowards, and he’s forced to fight regardless.”

“Ouch.” Marie mumbled through the intercom.

“I know him like my turntable; he can cooperate if we don’t scare him or threaten him.” She turned back to Trenton, who was staring at the two agents cautiously. “And…I…I uh…”

“You what?” Marie asked impatiently.

“…I want to bring him to Inkopolis.”

“Alright, hold up!” Agent 4 quickly stepped in. “Bring him? A military soldier who just so happened to be your brother you reunited with seconds ago?”

With a sigh, Marina bowed her head low and nodded. “I know you, the Squidbeak Splatoon, see him as a potential threat, but I can assure you, he does not like it here at all. He really does not like fighting, and he’s willing to live peacefully among Inklings if given the chance. In fact…if I were more daring back then, I would’ve brought him along and escaped the underground together with him when I first ran off two years ago.”

“…” Both Marie and Agent 4 went silent, unable to come up with anything else to retaliate.

Sighing, Marina turned back to her brother and began speaking in their native tongue, **“Trenton, I** **know you do not like working here in the military, do you?”**

**“I don’t…”**

**“Well then, I'm offering you something: I want to bring you to the surface, to the city of Inklings.”**

**“I-I can’t!”** He reared back a few inches in surprise. “ **Inklings will hate me! And-and…treason will be punished by brainwashing. Ever since _he_ seized control, this new rule has been made: traitors will be brainwashed into loyalty if caught** _._ ”

 _“ **He** ”? Who is he talking about? _Marina shook off that thought and held her brother’s palms gently, **“Inklings won’t hate us. I speak from experience. They will accept us with open tentacles. Do not be afraid, brother. I’ll show to you Inklings and Octarians can co-exist.”**

* * *

 

Ever since he was still a small child, Trenton and his sister had been told about how the vicious Inkling kind had forced them, the Octarians, to the underground, to starve and freeze, and Inklings will never, _ever_ accept Octarians amongst them.

**_“Those Inklings have taken everything from us and left us here to starve and rot. They won’t be sorry. They haven’t been for a hundred years. If they see an Octarian, they won’t show mercy.”_ **

**_“Those bastards see us as an obstacle to their life of pointless material satisfaction. If we ever dared to step foot into their city, they’d drive us out, or worse…”_ **

But now, he is very tempted by his sister’s words of life in the city of Inklings. He doesn’t want to stay in the military if he had a choice, and he somehow has this strange feeling that maybe the Inklings like aren’t what his parents say. He doesn’t want to be left in the dark, believing in what may be false lies. He wants to see the truth for himself.

“ _…_ **I will come along** _._ ” He doesn’t care whether it will cost his life; he wants to escape this wretched place that brings him nothing but fear, and return to the comfort of the undying love of his sister. Even though she has deserted from the army before, he knows that when all else fails, his sister will always be there for him. He knows it and believes it firmly, because she has been there for him again and again, and he knows she will be there for him as well, when he enters Inkopolis with her.

* * *

 

 **“R-Really?”** A big smile immediately formed on Marina’s face. **“I'm glad you will. We’re going to get you out of this scary place, forever. Just follow us.”**

“Looks like we’ve got an unexpected ally aboard.” Marie muttered, perfectly understanding everything the two siblings had said. “Let’s hope he really is what you say, 5.”

“Well, I am willing to trust him too.” Agent 4 averted his gaze away from the Octolings and onto the messy worktable beside him. On it were dismantled Splattershot Jrs, Chargers, and a single intact Undercover Brella. “I bet these are stolen from the Inkling prisoners.”

“Right. We need to find where the Inklings are. That is gonna be quite a problem for us.” Marina looked at the entrance once more. “We can’t stay stealthy forever, but I feel busting through this entire place just to find a single place can be too risky either.”

“Egh, you know what, screw stealth.” Agent 4 readied his Hero Shot after a while of silence. “We’ll be going straight through the corridors. I don’t think we should waste precious time thinking about questions like these; those Inklings would already be long gone by the time we found a solution.”

“I can’t think of anything else either.” Marie sighed. “Take the initiative, 4. But, one more question; should the kid follow you guys and risk getting labeled as traitor?”

“Well, this mission’s bound to spiral out into chaos in the end, so let’s just take the direct option.” Marina prompted.

“Alright then. Good luck, agents.”

**Later on…**

“Well, ain’t this interesting.” Agent 4 tapped a button on the butt of his Hero Shot to turn on the tiny flashlight attached to below the nozzle. As the small light made its way through the dark corridors, the Inklings contained inside the cells shambled over to the barred doors to find its source.

“O-Oh my…” Agent 5 took note of the Inklings’ messy and chipped tentacles, bloodshot eyes, thin-as-matches bodies and tattered prisoner outfits. “ _This_ isn’t what I had in mind…” _Cod knows how long they’ve been down here…_

“ **I’ll be honest; I pitied them whenever I saw them like this. They did nothing to deserve this.** ” Trenton quickly handed Agent 4 a ring of keys, and the agent began to sprint from cell to cell, unlocking the doors for the confused and perplexed Inklings. To his surprise, only a few Inklings were locked up. Then again, they are to-be test subjects for whatever the Octarians are inventing here, so it’d be impractical to capture many Inklings for that purpose, unless they were also captured as hostages and/or for sadistic torture.

“C’mon guys, get outta there!” Agent 4 urged the Inklings as they slowly stumbled out of the cells, confused about who their savior is. “We’re gonna get you guys out of this scary place. Just follow me and stick together, and make sure no one gets left behind. If you want, pick up anything you think you can use as a weapon. Remember, stick close with each other and me!”

Understanding him perfectly, the Inklings all nodded and began to form a small mob, with some of them picking up rusted rods or pieces of stone as pragmatic weapons. Agent 4 sighed in relief and looked at his partner and Trenton, who both nodded. “Next up, the exit. Let’s go.”

Confidence and determination radiating throughout the group, the Inklings ran behind the two agents as they led the way out. The blaring alarms did not slow them down, nor did the incoming Octarian soldiers that were charging towards them, weapons pointed at them; Agent 5 charged up a barrage of cyan ink and fired it wildly, blinding the Octarians while Agent 4 started off with a quick Splat Bomb thrown at a pair of Octocopters, before opening fire at the other troops. Trenton hopped to assisting him, using his own Octo Shot and Splat Bombs against his former comrades. Agent 5 directed another volley of ink at a trio of Octolings, splatting two of them and stunning the third, long enough for Agent 4 to drop another Splat Bomb beside her, splatting her.

“We’re almost there! Keep going!” Agent 4 rallied his partners and the Inklings, one of whom slapped an Octotrooper in the face, stunning it. Trenton chucked another Splat Bomb at a squad of Octolings dashing towards them, forcing them to disperse and making them open to fire. His sister saw the opening and directed a barrage at the elites in front. Some lucky ones dodged it, but the others got splatted by the blobs of cyan ink. The other Octolings began firing their weapons, one of them charging in with her Roller, aimed for Agent 4. He barely scrambled out of the way of the horizontal swipe of fuchsia ink, and slide kicked his way out of a vertical column. He was shocked by the range of the Roller, which can rival even the vertical range of a Dynamo Roller. Despite that, Agent 4 kept himself together and hopped from puddle to puddle and got close to the Octoling. Before she could raise her Roller to retaliate, he delivered a hard punch to her face, stunning her and making her stumble backwards. He then squeezed the trigger of his Hero Shot, splatting her.

While Trenton splatted another Octoling, one slithered up to him silently, intending to ambush him, but she could not escape the keen eyes of one of the Inklings, who hissed and sprang at the Octoling and pounded her mantle with a metal rod. Screeching in pain, the Octoling involuntarily turned back to humanoid form and angrily launched a fist at the boy’s torso. He collapsed, wheezing as he felt his lungs crushed by the soldier’s knuckles. The Octoling readied her Slosher, but another Inkling girl pounced upon her, giving her an uppercut and then a kick to her side and then slammed her into the hard wall, stunning her with the pain. With the threat taken care of for now, she quickly scooted over to the boy, “Brother!”

“Thank goodness you two are alright.” Agent 4 helped the boy up and led the two kids back to the group. “Let’s go now.” They continued to run towards the entrance door, which was conveniently open, but outside was no safer than within the walls. Multitudes of Octarians were stationed outside, weapons ready to fire. Agent 4 knew it was time to pull out something massive to help them, so did Marie, as she immediately shouted into his earphones, “Agent 4! Special, now!”

“On it!” He dashed outside into the fray, with all the Octarians firing at him. Unfazed, he quickly made his way to the large clump of Octotroopers and Twintacles directly in front of him, and tore into a strip of gum. Milliseconds later, he sprang high up into the air, fist raised, and his entire body got covered with cyan ink. The Octarians couldn’t retreat before he slammed his fist down on the ground, and a massive tornado of cyan ink engulfed a 2.5-feet radius around him, instantly splatting any Octarian stuck inside said radius.

“Alright, let’s move out!” Agent 5 rallied the Inklings and her brother as she fired a volley at a clump of Octotroopers advancing towards Agent 4 from his left. Meanwhile, Agent 4 fired at another group of Twintacles and a single Octosniper on his right. After a short battle, most of the Octarians on the field had been splatted. Agent 4 bent down on his knees, panting from all the action. Meanwhile, Agent 5 and the others trotted up to him, with Agent 5 giving him a clap on his back, “Good work.”

“Heh…thanks…” Clipping his Hero Shot to his belt, he stood up and stared at the giant metal gate before them. “Well, this went better…than I thought.”

“Alright,” Marie clasped her hands together through the intercom. “Let’s bring those kiddies home. Lead the Super Jump, Agent 4.”

“Roger that.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trenton takes his first steps into the fabled home of Inklings known as the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be a very short filler chapter used to firmly introduce Trenton into the cast, so don't expect much. :P
> 
> Again, bold text indicates Octarian language.

“Take care out there!” Marina waved at the Inklings as they hopped down the kettle one by one, eager to return to the city they knew and love.

“So, that kettle will head straight for Inkopolis, huh?” Nicholas turned around to look at the other kettle from which they entered at the first place. “Hope they can help keep our secret.”

“I'm sure they respect our request.” Marina assured. She then looked at Trenton, who was standing beside her, looking at them meekly. “ **Trenton, my brother, let’s get you out of here.** ”

“ **Thank you, for everything, Marina.** ” He mumbled as he watched Nicholas hop through the kettle first, followed by Marina, before he hopped in as well.

**Later on…**

“And you're _sure_ he’s trustworthy and not up to anything?” Callie narrowed her eyes at both siblings. “Though I do have to admit, he looks like a big dork.”

“He’s cooperative, trust me.” Marina assured her superiors. “I know him like my turntable.”

“You said that once…” Marie mumbled.

“Shush, Marie.” Marina quickly shut her down, not in the mood for dry sarcasm.

“Anyway,” Callie quickly brought their attention back to their original conversation. “Despite the risks, I am willing to give your brother a chance.” She then looked at Trenton, who quickly returned the stare despite his uneasiness, and smiled warmly as she began to speak in Octarian, “ **Have fun living in Inkopolis, kid.** ”

“ **W-What?** ” Trenton’s eyes widened. “ **Thank you. Thank you so much.** ” He bowed deeply as a gesture of thanks.

“So, you plan to bring him to Pearl’s to stay, huh?” Callie asked.

“Yeah. Other than Pearl’s home, we’ve got nowhere else to go.” Marina curled her long tentacles. “I'm sure he can adapt to Inkling language and culture soon. It may take time, but with Pearl’s help, I'm confident he’ll be happy here.”

“So,” Marie sighed and put some old scrolls away. “You're gonna let your friend in on this?”

“Yeah. I'm sorry you’ll have to deal with more trouble, Marie.”

“Nah, it’s alright. I never expected you to hide it from her for long, anyway. Safe travels, you two.”

* * *

 

Pearl looked at the wall clock for the 6th time. It was half past 8. Her partner should have returned home already. _What the heck is taking her so long?!_ Marina is never late for anything.

“Hey,” Pearl snapped her head to her left to find Marina trudging into the living room with a Slosher in her hand. “I'm back, Pearlie.”

“OHMYCODTHANKTHESEASYOURESAFE!!!” Pearl ran up to the Octoling. “Where the heck were you?! I had been waiting for you for so long! I thought something had happened to you! If you weren’t back by 9 I would’ve called the cops for help and-“

“Alright, calm down, Pearlie.” Marina raised one open palm, while her other hand held the Slosher. “Nothing serious happened; it’s just…uh…”

“It’s just what?” Pearl asked, trying to make eye contact with her partner, who was desperately looking away from her. “Tell me, ‘Rina.”

“…Alright.” Marina took a deep breath. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yeah, you can tell me anything.”

“…We have a new guy living with us.”

The news rendered Pearl silent for a few seconds. “…New ‘guy’?”

“Yep. And he is…”

“Who is he?”

“My brother, Trenton Ida.”

Before Pearl could open her mouth to speak, a small octopus suddenly jumped out of the cyan ink in Marina’s Slosher, making the rapper jump. As the octopus turned back into humanoid in mid-air, Pearl quickly analyzed his features: dark skin, albeit slightly lighter than Marina, black-and-teal tentacles just like her, but shorter, and sparkly silver eyes. The Ink-Wash Shirt he was wearing was obviously a hand-me-down, so were the black shorts. Despite him being shorter than Marina, he and Pearl still had a significant height difference, forcing her to lift her head up to meet his silver eyes. Silence ensued between all three of them for 10 good seconds before Pearl finally spoke, “Oooookaaayy… _this_ isn’t what I expected before dinner.”

“Look, it was a very long story. Please let me explain.”

“What the heck is going on, ‘Rina?”

“That’s what we’re about to tell you.” Another stranger stepped into the hall, stopping beside Marina. The lower half of her face was concealed by a surgical facemask, while a large green cap barely fitted over her white tentacles. Even though she seemed like any other Inkling, her eyes and voice rang a faint bell in Pearl’s mind. _She seems familiar…_

She was snapped back into reality when stranger cleared her throat, “So, you know your friend here, Marina, she’s an Octarian, right?”

“Yeah, those dudes that lost the Great Turf War, right?”

“Yep, and they’re about to take action thanks to that. They’re planning something big, far bigger than anything even _I_ could imagine, and we’re working to stop them.”

“So who is ‘we’, if I may ask?”

“We are the New Squidbeak Splatoon, a secret society of heroes tasked to keep the Octarians under watch and make sure they’re not up to any slimy plans. And your friend here is part of us.”

“H-Hold up!” Pearl interrupted. “So what you're saying is that Marina is part of some secret agent team that fights the Octarians?!”

“That’s right.” Marina nodded. “We agents are to keep the Splatoon a secret from everyone unaffiliated. I'm sorry I didn’t tell you, Pearlie.”

In truth, Pearl wasn’t exactly shocked. She had suspected her partner had been doing something behind her back, but she had not expected that “something” to be being a secret agent. However, she was worried by the fact that her best friend had plunged herself into life-or-death situations. Although she certainly does not look down on Marina, she knows this job is a very dangerous one. No, she’s not going to sit back at watch her friend risk her life like that. She will join the action.

“Rina,” Pearl slowly took a few steps toward the Octoling DJ. “If you're doing dangerous stuff like this agent work, I'm comin’ with ya.”

“Wai- Pearlie, are you serious?!”

“Of course I am! I ain’t gonna be a bystander, nah. I'm doing this with you.”

“Pearlie, this is really dangerous.” Marina tried to persuade her friend. “You can’t.”

“Oh I can. Look, my Turf War skills may suck at times, but if you're asking me to splat some Octo-jerks, I'm down.” She then quickly made a “speak no evil” gesture. “No offense.”

“Are you _sure_ you're up for this, kid?” The stranger asked skeptically. “This is serious business.”

“Put me on the list, cap’n!” Pearl pointed a confident thumb at her chest. “I, Pearl Pygmy, will join the Squidbeak Splatoon!”

“Shh!” Both Marina and the stranger hushed her.

“Oh right.” Pearl quickly lowered her voice to normal. “Ya’ll like to keep secrets, I forgot.”

“Well then, if you insist,” The stranger put her hands on her hips. “From now on, you are Agent 6 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Welcome aboard, kid.”

“Stop calling me a kid!” Pearl yapped. “I'm 21!”

“Well, to be frank, few would’ve assumed that with your size…” Marina teased quietly.

“Kid or not, you better get up early tomorrow; Agent 1 will train you on facing against those Octarians.” The stranger commanded. “Also, now that you're officially a member, I think I can tell you who I really am.” With that, she tugged off her facemask and cap, revealing a familiar face to Pearl, who immediately recognized her.

“Marie of the Squid Sisters is a secret agent?!” She exclaimed. Of all Inklings, the little rapper had not expected her predecessor in Inkopolis News to be the mysterious, no-nonsense secret agent that fights the Octarians.

“Yep, it’s me.” Marie nodded. “You can call me Agent 2. I’ll leave now. Remember, get up early.” She turned around and walked down the corridor to the entrance of Pearl’s home.

“Well, this is it, huh?” Pearl mumbled to herself. “From metal performer, to MC and newscaster, and now a secret agent saving Inkopolis…this isn’t what I expected from myself.”

“Heh, fate is weird sometimes.” Marina chuckled.

“Yeah, let’s go an-” The MC was suddenly interrupted by a loud disc-scratching noise. She turned her head to look at an old DJ set in the corner and found Trenton frozen before it like a squidkid caught with their hand in the candy jar. Awkward stares were exchanged for a few seconds before the boy began to freak out, “ **I'm so sorry! I won’t do it again!!** ”

“Whoa, whoa, chill out, kiddo!” Pearl began to calm him down. “Don’t freak out, man! You haven’t broken anything!”

“Let me handle this, Pearlie.” Marina began to walk towards her brother, who was still shaking in place. She put her hands on his shoulders gently, “ **Trenton, do not worry. This is your home now. You can feel safe here.** ”

Though still shaking, his facial language conveyed he had stopped panicking, “ **Okay.** ”

“ **Come now,** ” Marina gently grabbed his hand. “ **Let’s have dinner. You must be famished.** ” Together, the three cephalopods made their way to the dining room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicholas goes for a normal day of Turf War with his sister and two of his new friends. However, things swiftly go south amidst the battle of colors.

“There you are, sis!” Nicholas grinned as he saw his dear sister running towards him, her trusty Carbon Roller strapped to her back.

“Have you been waiting for a long time?” Allison asked him. “I ran into a friend on the way and helped her out a little.”

“Nah, it’s not you who’s late. It’s Crystal.” Nicholas looked around. “Tristan’s in Ammo Knights. Guy’s crazy about Brushes.”

“Hey, I heard that!” Nicholas jumped and turned around to face Tristan, who had an obviously fake scowl on his face. “Did you really have to say that about me as my first impression to your sister?”

“That’s the truth, buddy.” Allison chuckled silently at her brother’s brave mouth. “You love to show off with that Octobrush of yours.”

“He does, for sure.” All three of them turned to find a familiar Octoling girl holding a Gold Dynamo Roller. “Anyways,” She pointed a finger at Allison. “I hear you're Nicky’s sister. Nice to meet you; I'm Crystal, and that guy over there,” She shifted her finger to point at Tristan. “Is Tristan, my friend.”

“I see. The name’s Allison.”

“Alright guys,” Nicholas got everyone’s attention. “Are we ready for some Turf War?”

“Three Rollers and one Shooter,” Crystal scratched her blue tentacles. “This is not exactly the best loadout, but we’ll try.”

“We’ll see on the field.” Nicholas waved his left arm forward to motion his teammates. “Let’s go.”

**Later on…**

“That girl is so annoying with her Carbon!” A boy with a New Squiffer grumbled through his Skull Bandana as Allison ran like a cheetah around the walkways of Moray Towers. He had not been able to land a hit on her throughout the match thanks to her obnoxious speed. So far, Nicholas and co were having the upper hand of the Turf War with more cyan ink covering the grounds, but the other team was obviously determined to swipe their victory away from them. A girl holding a Kensa Splattershot, the apparent leader of the opposing team, looked at the Squiffer boy and another boy wielding a Splat Roller and nodded at both of them. They need a plan if they want to win this match.

“Let’s go.” The Roller boy swam silently in a trail of pink created by his Squiffer teammate to approach Crystal, who was busy covering turf on her team’s side. As soon as he got close enough, he hopped out and chucked a Curling Bomb at her to blind her, before a wave of pink flooded her and she was kicked back to her spawn point.

“They’re fighting back!” Nicholas raised his Dualies and scanned his surroundings. Nothing to the left. Nothing to the right. He turned around and saw a small pink beam aimed at his forehead.

The girl smacked her fist on the railing as Nicholas dodge rolled his way out of her shot just in time. She shifted her Splat Charger and squeezed the trigger again, but he had already swum away in the large puddle of cyan covering the central plaza. She looked to her right and saw the Tristan dashing towards her, but she was already prepared; she whipped out a Splat Bomb and tossed it at him. He clubbed it away with his Brush, but his chest was struck by a shot and he found himself floating back to his spawn point.

At this point, the siblings were the only ones of their team left on the field, with the opposing team intending to kick them back to spawn as well. If they get wiped out as well, this match will definitely not end in their favor, so they will have to keep themselves together against their opponents.

“Alright, you guys wanna play rough?” Allison raised her Roller. “Let’s play.” She began to roll a turquoise path towards the opposing team’s side. Both Chargers of that team began to target them, but both siblings dodged or fired back in attempt to splat them. Soon, Nicholas came face-to-face with the Splattershot girl, who gave him a glare. “Let’s fight, Dualie shmuck.” She opened with a Suction Bomb tossed at Nicholas, who dodged it and dashed towards her. She raised her Kensa Splattershot and squeezed the trigger. Nicholas grunted as some blobs of pink ink collided with him, but he kept cool and tossed two Burst Bombs at her, before he delivered the splatting shot.

“Let’s go!” Tristan covered up some empty spots around their base and raced down the walkways to the plaza. The Squiffer boy, who was standing on another walkway at his base, aimed his weapon at the Octoling and pulled the trigger. Tristan zipped past the bolt of pink ink towards the Roller boy, who spotted him and tossed a Curling Bomb at him, but the attack was already expected and intercepted quickly by the Octobrush smacking it aside. The device exploded into a puddle of pink by the side while Tristan swung his Brush to deploy a wave of cyan at him. The Squiffer boy hopped down from a platform and aimed his weapon at Tristan. He grinned behind his bandana as he squeezed the trigger, but the grin soon morphed into an agape mouth as the Octoling raised his weapon and caught the shot with the tip of his Brush. “You have to try harder than that!” With that, he began to swing his Brush around rapidly, launching globs of cyan ink everywhere. While the Roller boy quickly backed off, his partner wasn’t as lucky and found himself overwhelmed by the rapid attacks and soon burst into a puddle of cyan.

Allison tossed an Ink Storm mechanism and cyan ink began to rain down on her and the Charger girl. A staredown transpired between both girls for a few seconds before the Charger girl roared and dashed towards Allison, muzzle aimed at her. However, Allison was ready and she hopped aside while her opponent fired a lane of pink down the walkway. Allison relished the opening and pushed her Roller along the walkway to put down more cyan ink as she hightailed it out of there, but a sharp force connected with her back and she found herself tumbling face-first into a puddle of pink ink. Everyone immediately stopped as she roared in anguish, before they turned their heads to look at the culprit: the boy with the Splat Roller, frozen behind her with a mortified expression.

Judd and Lil’ Judd immediately arrived at the scene to diffuse the conflict. Crystal Super Jumped over to Allison and gently helped her up and cleaned off the painful pink ink stuck on her, while the two felines reprimanded the boy, who was immensely remorseful. The match was cancelled and considered null, and both teams were teleported back to the lobby.

* * *

 

“I'm fine, bro.” Allison assured the anxious green-tentacled Inkling. “Really.”

“That guy should’ve known the rules!” Crystal was furious. “Physical attacks are not allowed in Ink Battles at all!”

“Hey,” Both Octolings in the lobby turned to find a familiar face at the lobby entrance: the hardy, confident Squeezer user, Maya Atlantic.

“Maya?” Nicholas raised a brow. “What are you doing here?”

“I just heard the news.” Maya swiftly walked in. “You okay still, little girl?”

“I'm fine, yeah.” Allison nodded weakly. “And the name’s Allison.”

“That guy who kicked you, he’s my twin brother, Bryce.” Maya revealed. “He’s normally brash, and has a tendency to act before thinking. I'm sorry about him hurting you.”

“Nah, it’s alright.”

“Hey!” The Roller boy, his name now revealed to be Bryce, dashed towards the four friends. “I uh, I'm sorry for kicking you just now. I know it wasn’t legit, but I kinda got worked up a little back there with the high stakes, so uh…no hard feelings, right?”

While his sister, Nicholas and the two Octolings gave him cold stares, Allison presented a friendly smile, “Nah, no hard feelings. I understand you were becoming desperate. It’s cool.”

Bryce sighed in relief, glad that she was willing to forgive him quickly. However, Nicholas wasn’t as forgiving, as he took a few steps towards Bryce and kept that menacing stare as he spoke, “Better remember the rules next time, pal.”

“You hear that, Bryce?” Maya grabbed her brother’s ear and twisted it harshly. “I'm gonna tell Mom about this.”

“N-No, wait!” The boy pleaded. “Mom’s gonna kill me if she knows!”

“Tch, that’s what you get.” Maya began to pull her brother out of the lobby, and before long the twins were out of sight.

“Well, that happened.” Tristan commented. “So, who wants to get something to eat?”

“Eh, I'm going home.” Allison picked up her Roller. “I need a nap.”

“Okay.” Crystal waved as the orange-tentacled girl exit the lobby. “So, we’re going to the Crust Bucket to get a bite, right?”

“Yes.” Tristan nodded. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

“So you said one of your sisters is mute?” Nicholas sipped his cherry soda as he asked Crystal.

“Yeah. Sadly for her, our parents sort of looked down on her because of that.” The Octoling looked away sadly. “It’s not even like parents worrying for mentally disabled children; it’s like they simply have no hope of Lilith being able to take care of herself. As a result, there was some sort of favoritism between her and both me and the middle child, Styla. Lilith became a loner; not really socializing and talking with others, and preferring to do things alone. It’s as if she wasn’t even part of the family anymore, you know what I mean?”

“I see.” Nicholas nodded understandably. He pitied this Lilith girl; getting overshadowed from your parents by others sure feels horrible. He was thankful his parents love both him and his sister equally; neither is “better” than the other. “So, did she get better?”

“Kind of?” Crystal shrugged. “As we grew up away from our parents, she slowly came to understand I and Styla will always love her even if our parents don’t. She’s gotten over it, but she still prefers to be alone. I really hope she can find someone she enjoys talking to.”

“Give her time, Crystal.” Tristan patted his friend on her back. “I'm sure she will.”

Nicholas sipped his soda in silence. So far, Crystal had revealed a surprising amount of information regarding her past, which he was sure is something she would not tell casual people. But she also had yet to talk about whether or not she served for the Octarian Army. He remembered Marie telling him all Octolings are to start training for military service at young age, so he was certain Crystal and Tristan also enrolled for it.

“Hey.” Nicholas looked to his right to find a familiar white-tentacled female Inkling. _Really, Marie? I'm surprised no one else can recognize you with that same disguise every time._ He nodded silently as Marie waved her hand, motioning him to follow her. He turned towards his Octoling friends, who were watching closely, “Hey uh, I gotta go. My uh…teacher wants to see me, yeah. See you guys later.” He exhaled in relief as both of them bought his lie, somehow. He went over to beside Marie, who began to lead the way out of Inkopolis Square and into the suburbs.

As soon as both Inklings were out of their sight, Tristan turned towards Crystal and nodded, “We should head back and meet up with the others.” Both Octolings stood up from their table and Super Jumped away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The leaders of the Squidbeak Splatoon decide it is time to confront DJ Octavio, leader of all Octarians and prisoner of the Splatoon, to get some real answers, but they find more than what they bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back. School's been forcing me to focus on studies, Discord distracts me a lot, and I have TWO other stories to work on (one a prequel to this, another a collab romance story written with a great writer) along with this one, so it's been stagnant. But here I am, with a new chapter for delivery.

“So what is it this time, Marie?” Nicholas asked impatiently.

Marie did not bother turning back as she spoke, “I think it’s time you meet Captain Cuttlefish.”

“Ah, you talked about him before. You said he’s your grandfather too?”

“Got that right. Well, here we are.” Marie stopped in front of a small wooden shack. Parts of the green paintwork were starting to fall off. Holes from missing planks dotted the tiny porch. Marie pulled out a key from her pocket, inserted it into the hole and twisted it gently.

“I and Callie really need to clean this place someday.” Marie mumbled to herself, while Nicholas stayed silent as both of them walked down the corridor. They passed by a small door, at which Nicholas looked at. On the door was a dusty sign with a “3” carved onto it.

“Whose room is that, Marie?” Agent 2 froze and looked at the direction her protégé was pointing at. Her fists clenched within her pockets as she answered calmly, “That room belongs to someone who has left us a long time ago. You…don’t need to worry about it, 4.”

“Oooookay.” Nicholas could only sigh. It’s obvious Marie had resented his sister ever since she left(?) the Splatoon for reasons he did not know yet. Maybe with Agent 3 gone and Marie being left alone to search for her dear cousin, it’s hard for Marie to not hate her.

“Ahoy there, Marie!” Nicholas peeked over Marie to get a good glance at the source of the old voice. The Inkling before him was short and frail and needed a bamboo cane to support himself. However, from what Marie said, this elderly squid is not to be messed with, especially when he was young.

“Now, who’s this lad?” Captain Craig Cuttlefish hobbled over to his granddaughter and the young squid beside her. This boy stood straight and firm, with a serious and ready-for-action face. He reminded the captain of his bygone protégé, Agent 3, except that orange-headed girl was less formal and less…neat. Hygiene was never her strong suit. If only she were still here; _if_ only…

“He is the newest member of the Splatoon, Gramps.” Marie began the introduction. “He is Agent 4. He’s the one who saved the Great Zapfish and Callie from the Octarians about a month ago.”

“Oh ho ho, new member, I see?” Nicholas’ eyes followed the old squid as he hobbled towards him. Upon closer inspection, he saw the bamboo cane was actually a Bamboozler, but he returned his focus to Captain Cuttlefish as the old squid held out his tiny hand, “Welcome to the New Squidbeak Splatoon, young squiddo! My name is Cap’n Cuttlefish, and I am honored to have you on board.”

“No, _I'm_ honored to be working for a great hero like you, Captain.” Nicholas answered humbly as he shook Cuttlefish’s hand. “My name is Nicholas, but you can call me Agent 4 in the line of work.”

“Ah, what a well-mannered squid.” Cuttlefish commented. “You certainly have the right tastes when it comes to recruiting new helpers, Marie!”

“Why thank you, Gramps.” Marie nodded, but soon her expression returned to serious. “But I'm worried; the Octarians are still active, and they’re planning something big.”

“Eh, I'm not surprised.” Cuttlefish shrugged. “They’re probably planning to break their leader, DJ Octavio, out again.”

“No no no, not that. They have a new leader in charge.”

“What? Really?” Cuttlefish stroked his beard. “Who would this new leader be?”

“It’s someone named…Augustus Cephalando.” Marie revealed. “Apparently, he has seized the throne and has been commanding the Octarians.”

“Now that is news.” Cuttlefish’s wide smile disappeared completely. “Anything else new?”

“There is this new rule among the Octarian military: defected soldiers will be punished by brainwashing.” Horror leaked out of her voice at the last word. “They will be forcefully brainwashed into loyalty by these strange glasses.”

“Egad! This can’t be him.” Cuttlefish began to mutter.

“Can’t be…who?” Nicholas asked in confusion.

“I was suspecting whether Octavio’s still operating behind our backs, but this can’t be him. As eager as he is to steal our Zapfishes, for all I know he’s very benevolent to his people. He won’t ever force them into loyalty like that. No, this is not him.” Cuttlefish shook his head firmly. “This is by that Augustus guy himself.”

“You're really sure about this?” Nicholas asked.

“I’ve known Octavio since before the war, bucko. I know him like the back of my tentacle.” The old squid confirmed. “This is not by him, for sure.”

“We can ask him.” Marie suggested. “He’s still in the basement, after all.”

“Oh, so that’s where he is?” Nicholas raised a brow. “The basement of this house?”

“Yep.” Marie nodded. “I thought already I told you that.”

“I…forgot.” Nicholas mumbled. “But yeah, let’s go ask him.”

“This way.” Cuttlefish grabbed his cane and hobbled over to a set of stairs that lead below the floor. He pushed open the double doors to reveal the spacious room under the house, which was littered with tools, old clothes, dust, and a giant snowglobe encasing a certain octopus.

“We meet again, you meddling squidkid.” DJ Octavio kept his glare on Nicholas, who only smirked, “What? Still salty you got dunked on by the Rainmaker?”

“Tch, I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for YOU, you lil green punk!” Octavio slammed his tentacles on the glass, which droned a little from the impact.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough jokes for today. Time to get serious.”  Nicholas stopped snickering, alarming Octavio a little. “So uh, Octavio, things have gotten kinda…wacky down there without you.”

“Tch, whaddya expect when you seize a society of the only one they can consider leader?” Octavio muttered sarcastically.

“Um, that’s probably an understatement, Agent 4.” Marie cut in. “Octavio, do you know someone down there named Augustus Cephalando?”

“Oh.” The DJ’s green eyes widened and his dry sarcasm suddenly disappeared. “Oh no, no no no no no…not him…anyone but him…”

“Welp, that’s our answer.” Marie said. “Wow, you seem really scared of him. What’s up?”

“He’s a MANIAC!!” Octavio suddenly roared. “ _That_ lunatic’s not in charge, is he?!”

“Uh, I-I hate to break it to you, judging from your reaction, but yeah, he is.” Nicholas mumbled.

“Oh no…everything’s gonna go to hell with **him** calling the shots…” All three Inklings were unnerved to witness this much fear emanating from their adversary. It appears this Augustus guy is way, _way_ more dangerous than anything they had expected.

“So, what’s wrong with him?” Marie asked cautiously.

“Oh buddy, if he has any goals in life, it’d be eradicating all of you Inklings.” Octavio waved his wasabi sticks around. “He doesn’t just want to take over the surface; he’s g-gonna capture you all and then torture you in whatever ways his crazy mind can think of! He’s more ruthless than I can ever be! He will do whatever it takes to reach his goal. Whatever. It. Takes.”

“Oh…my.” Was all that escaped from Nicholas’ lips. It still took him a while to completely process all of Octavio’s rambling about this new leader before he said something else. “That was quite a Splat Bombshell.”

“Well, that sure is something…” Cuttlefish rubbed the back of his head, while Marie remained completely silent from shock. “So, we’re dealing with a bigger problem, huh?”

“Indeed.” Marie finally muttered.

“So uh, w-what more do you kn-” Nicholas was cut off by Octavio turning his back to them. “Look kid, I don’t wanna talk anymore. I need a rest. I’ve had a bad day just from talking ‘bout that already.”

“But-”

“J-Just get out. Please.” With that, the DJ king sank down to the bottom of the globe, faceplanted on the sand. He tried to sleep, but he knew his racing mind would never go to rest at once. He could only hope for Craig to switch off the lights, and with everything dark, he should slowly doze off.

“Eh, let’s leave him be, kids.” Cuttlefish turned to the basement entrance. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but let’s give him some time alone.”

“I…okay.” Nicholas reluctantly turned away from Octavio and followed the older squids back upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the abrupt ending; frankly, I wasn't having much fun writing this one. It felt like a real drag. If you didn't like it, that's okay. I didn't either. Hopefully the next chapter can make up for this.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicholas meets even more cephalopods added to the Splatoon, and Marie confronts him with the issue that has been bugging him until now.

“Oh, really? You two lived in northern Inkopolis?” Callie asked curiously.

“Yeah. We studied in Inkblot Art Academy, and our mom was a teacher there.” Nicholas nodded. Fumbling in his pocket, he brought out his wallet and gently pulled out a yellowed photo of two adult Inklings and two young toddler squids, with one being cradled by the female adult. “Here’s a family photo; there’s Dad over here, then there’s my sister being carried by our mom, then there’s me down here, beside Mom. It’s pretty old, I know. I was 4 in that photo, I believe.”

“I see.” As Callie went back to finishing her ice cream, Nicholas stared at her silently. Those unique golden eyes and her wide smile made her absolutely adorable. He really wanted to tell her the feelings he had for her, but there was this little part of his mind that kept holding him back, and he hated it. Maybe he should ask someone else for advice. Oh great, now he’s sounding like the protags of those cheesy love movies again. Why must love be so complicated?

“Hmm?” Callie reached for her phone in her pocket and brought it out. “Marie texted me to tell you to meet her at the Canyon.”

“Oh, she needs me now?”

“Yeah. You better hurry.” When she looked up, Agent 4 was already running towards the manhole.

“Sup, Marie?” The boy greeted his co-worker as he hopped out into the Octarian turf. “Whatcha called me for?”

“Eh, it’s not a mission this time, relax.” Marie folded up her brella and rested it on a pillow. “I want to introduce to you some new allies.”

“New peeps, huh? Who are they?”

“RIGHT HERE!!” A creamy pink Super Jump reticule appeared right beside Cuttlefish Cabin, and a tiny Inkling landed right on it. Nicholas knew he shouldn’t be surprised, and yet he was, “Pearl?”

“Yep, I'm on the ride now, too.” Pearl pointed one of her signature Enperry Splat Dualies at the boy. “Name’s Pearl Pygmy, but you can call me MC.Princess too, kid!”

“Eh, who in Inkopolis _wouldn’t_ know you or Marina?” Marie mumbled sarcastically. “Not being jealous or anything, but you two soared through the charts ever since Ebb and Flow was released.”

“Oh, that was one of our best works! Marina knows how to mix up good beats!”

“Well, I gotta admit you're correct, but still,” Nicholas folded his arms. “You said allie ** _s_** , Marie. Where’s the other one?”

“Oh, they should be coming right now. I told them to head over here just now.”

“Eiy, sorry ‘bout being late!” Nicholas heard the familiar sloppy accent coming from one the kettles of Tentakeel Outpost. _Wait, it can’t be…_

“Welp, there they are.” Marie trained her eyes on the two Octolings as they slowly walked towards the Inklings, this time sporting armor instead of their casual wear. Nicholas scratched his green mantle in slight confusion, with the speed of everything happening, “Crystal, Tristan, you guys are soldiers from the underground?”

“Yeah, we are still in service.” Tristan scuffed the ground with his boots. “We lied about having defected.”

“I mean, that is technically true; you are helping us, after all.” Marie pointed out.

“Anyway, we also knew you were Agent 4 from the start; we just didn’t point it out because Marie told us to wait a while before telling you.” Crystal added. “We are spies working to gather information for the New Squidbeak Splatoon.”

“So you two are like, our moles in the army?”

“Yes, we are.” Tristan affirmed. “It is an honor for us to help the Squidbeak Splatoon."

“Anyway, we will have to get back to work before they realize we’ve been out for too long.” Crystal gestured Tristan as she turned back towards the kettle. “See you later.”

Nicholas sighed and wiped sweat off his face as the two Octolings hopped into one of the kettles. In all honesty, he had no seen this coming at all. He thought the two were just like the other Octolings that have settled in Inkopolis; they left their old life behind and came here for a fresh start. But no, these two are still in service, and they are working for the Splatoon itself. Things seemed to be happening to fast for him to even catch a breath; first the two new top idols of Inkopolis were now fellow agents, and then the Octarians found another leader, and _now_ his two new friends, whom he thought he could trust, turned out to be in this Splatoon work as well. What next; Coral becomes a secret agent as well?

“Hey, you seem tired, kid.” Agent 4 shifted around to find Pearl beside him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just…so much stuff’s been happening right now.” Nicholas looked at the training balloons sitting at the shooting range. “It’s like a bullet train, y’know?”

“I know, Four. But drastic situations call for drastic measures.” Marie walked over to the two. “I have a bad feeling this time, those slimeballs are up to something far worse than just stealing the Zapfish, so we need more resources and helping tentacles this time. Just you, me and Callie won’t cut it. Not this time. We need a bigger team, a bigger punch.”

“I know, Marie.” Nicholas sighed; the road before them would surely not be easy, but they still have to walk this road, for the sake of Inkopolis. Other than the slight breeze flowing through the gorge, there was nothing but silence between the three Inklings for a few minutes, until Pearl finally stood up and walked to the manhole, “Hey, I'm gonna head back. Almost time for noon broadcast. Later.” She turned into a tiny white squid and hopped through the rusty iron mesh, leaving Nicholas and Marie alone at the outpost.

Marie mouthed a “goodbye” and turned back to look at her protégé, who was fidgeting around with a small leaf that had fallen from one of the shrubs. She had noticed whenever he saw Callie, he had _that_ look in his golden eyes. She had seen _that_ look in some of the boys that mobbed the cousins back when they handled news at the Plaza. She knew what _that_ look meant.

“Hey, Four,” Marie addressed the boy with his codename. “Can you come with me into the cabin for a while? I need to talk with you.”

“Huh? Okay.” Despite being curious and slightly confused, Nicholas obeyed and followed his partner into the small shack. The interior was still the same as he last saw it: a green couch and a coffee table on the left, and a tiny box of a fridge and a stove on the right, along with a small door that lead to Marie’s room. Rarely did Agent 4 enter there; most of the discussions happened at the living room, and it’d be rude for a guy to enter a girl’s room anyway.

As both agents plopped themselves down on opposite sides of the coffee table, Marie took a deep breath and faced her disciple with an unreadable expression. “So, let’s begin.”

“So whatcha called me here for, Marie?”

“Well, it’s about Callie.”

Marie swore she saw the kid’s ears perk up slightly as he leaned in closer towards her, “So, what about your cousin?”

Here goes nothing. “Well, I notice you oft- no, always give her a weird look. I think you uh, have ‘something’ for her.”

Nicholas’ mind processed what she said and immediately a jade-colored blush engulfed his face. “Wh-What?! I uh, I don’t!”

“Come on, admit it, kid.” Marie finally let go of her icy front and switched to a teasing tone. “You’ve definitely fallen for her. You know, the more someone denies they have a crush, the more likely they do have one. You can’t hide it from me, squiddo. It’s as clear as water!”

As much as Nicholas wanted to prove Marie wrong, he knew he couldn’t hide it from her anymore. After all, maybe a seasoned squid like Marie can give him some good tips on asking Callie out. Maybe she can help him break these mental chains that had been holding his tongue back.

“Ugh, you got me.” Nicholas bowed his head in surrender. “Fine, I do like her. But I just…”

“Don’t know how to ask her out?”

“Yeah.”

“Called it.” Marie remembered a time she was on break and she heard some boys talking about one of their friends having trouble in asking another girl out. She had seen this scenario way too many times throughout her life; she could practically read the minds of those troubled guys. And she knew they all have the same simple fear. “You're worried she’d reject you?”

“I- you got it right, Marie. Somehow.”

“Eh, it won’t hurt to give it a try, would it? Plus, if I were to make a guess, I don’t think Callie would reject you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You're her savior, after all; her ‘knight in shining armor’. And don’t get me started on how many times I caught her thinking about you. I don’t think she’d just reject you like you're a stranger.”

“Huh…” As Nicholas looked up at Marie, he felt a small spark of hope lighting up in him. He didn’t want to make any guesses, but he couldn’t help but feel maybe she was right.

“Go for it, Four. Don’t be scared.” There was no sugarcoating or normal teasing in Marie’s voice, just plain support for the troubled teenager before her. “Just go and ask. It won’t hurt to try.”

Nicholas looked away from Marie for the third time. He had literally nothing to lose. She was right. The fear of being rejected still lingered in his subconscious, but at least it didn’t seem as ominous and so towering that it clouded his rational thinking. He wouldn’t know unless he tried, after all.

“Look kid, I'm rooting for you.” Marie grabbed her disciple’s fist, which was rested on the table. “I don’t wanna see you being a wuss. Go. And. Do it.” Who knew, that Agent 4, the humble green Inkling that charged up against sentient tentacles, machines, and _bread_ for cod’s sake without breaking a sweat would become a hesitating mess at the sight of her cousin. But ribbing the kid about it wouldn’t do anything to help him. This was time for Marie to be the supportive maternal type, not crack jokes and make his life sarcastic hell.

To Nicholas, it was out of character for Marie to be so serious and down-to-earth unless when it comes to critical missions. Other than her beautiful singing voice, Marie’s trademark feature is her seemingly never-ending sarcasm. He had expected an endless barrage of teasing from the older squid, but he got the complete opposite. Well, not that he was complaining. He felt much better and confident in himself. Yesterday, his little crush on Callie was nothing more than distant fantasizing.

But now…he thought, for a moment of hope and wonderful joy, that perhaps he had a chance, after all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicholas learns the truth...

Allison strolled through the busy streets of the commercial complex in western Inkopolis, watching as numerous teenager and adult Inklings flocked in front of game stores or TV stores, or Jellyfish workers distributing advertisement pamphlets to the folk. Not so different from the Square, but not exactly the same either. She decided that was enough of a change for her.

“Excuse me, Miss!” A foreign accent called out from beside her. She looked around and saw a short Jellyfish wearing a very familiar green hat. “You are invited to the Squid Sisters convention this Wednesday. It is hosted to celebrate the reunion of the Squid Sisters, and the convention includes…” Allison wasn’t listening to him anymore. Just hearing the name of the band stirred up some memories she really did not want to revisit. She simply gave a quick nod of acknowledgement and walked away from the Jellyfish as quickly as possible. She scrunched up the yellow flier that she accepted from the Jellyfish out of respect and chucked it into the nearest silver trash can. Something was burning within her as she picked up her pace and brushed down the street, a feeling she couldn’t really discern. The scream was replaying within her curling ears. Tears threatened to escape her tightly shut eyes as the soldier reappeared in her vision. Was this guilt? Was this anguish? She couldn’t really understand, and she didn’t want to. She wanted anything but to remember it.

“Ow!!” Her eyes shot open when she felt a weight collide against her. It took her a few seconds to focus on the boy that was stumbling backwards, away from her. His neat cyan tentacles contrasted against his dark skin, and he was rubbing his face with a palm. She assumed they had accidentally bumped into each other just now, when her eyes were shut tight. She quickly stepped forward to him without thinking and grabbed his arms. “Whoa there, you alright?”

“I-I'm okay, I'm okay!” The boy rasped. When he took his hands off his face Allison could see he had rare rose red eyes, but she almost didn’t catch that, as he began to squint hard, then his eyes grew wide again as he arrived at a realization, “Oh no, my glasses! Where are they?”

Now that explains stuff, like why he squinted so hard. Allison looked down at the pavement, fleeting her eyes around in hopes of spotting the glasses. And quickly she found a pair of Retro Specs sitting with its lenses flat on the ground. She bent down to pick it up and used the edge of the shirt to wipe the dusty lenses. “Found ‘em! Excuse me, just gonna help you clean them for a quick moment. They’re all sandy after landing on the pavement.”

“O-Oh, thanks.” She heard the boy reply. After some quick rubbing she grinned with satisfaction and returned the Specs to the boy, who quickly put them on. His red eyes grew wide, and he smiled at her, “Thank you, and sorry about bumping into you earlier. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t either.” She quickly muttered that and then walked away, making sure to go more slowly this time. Her mind was buzzing about just now thanks to that recollection, and she didn’t see the boy coming at her. She shook her head, trying to get rid of that nasty memory. _Maybe I should go for some Turf War;_ the thrill of Turf War always helped to get bad feelings off of her. Her mind made up, she Super Jumped back home to grab her trusty Roller, ready to splat it out.

* * *

 

“Heads-up!!” An Arafuran boy roared as he swung his Roller towards Allison, who lifted her own Roller up to block the attack. This boy had been causing a lot of trouble for her in this rather intense Turf War; his skill of being able to sneak up to behind enemies undetected had netted him quite a few splats and most of the time he tried to sneak up against Allison, either she gets splatted, he does, or they end up in a clash, like this one that they were in right now.

Sweat dripped from Allison’s violet tentacles as she tried to think; she had to rid this boy from her tail, or she would instantly get kicked back to spawn before she even got 2 meters away from the central pool of the hotel balcony they were Turf Warring on. She thanked her lucky stars her team was still in the lead, although their opponents had started to fight back more aggressively. It seemed as if for any direction she tried to escape to, the boy always found her, his Roller held high and ready to splat. Swimming away obviously wouldn’t work; she had tried that three times already. Her Carbon Roller lacks the power of his vanilla Splat Roller, but she decided one perk was enough to give her an edge over this arrogant pirate:

_“Rely on not your strength, but your speed. Rush in like a brave cheetah and use your movements to confuse your opponents, and then move in for the strike when their guard is down.”_

_Don’t fail me, Mom._ She raised her Roller and flicked some ink at the boy, not intending to splat him with it, but to distract him. As he blinked and let out a “whoa!”, she ducked into the puddle of purple around her and began advancing towards him. It proved to be effective, and she was finally able to get up close to him. He held back a grunt and raised his Roller, but by the time he fired, she had already swooped around to his vulnerable back. With one quick swipe, the boy turned into a whimpering spirit as he floated back to his spawn.

 _Welp, that’s taken care of._ Her little duel finally over, she looked back to the center to check on the Turf War; one of her teammates was down, her Bamboozler was engaged in a good ol’ Charger duel with the opposing E-Liter, her Hydra Splatling was driving back an opposing Blaster, and the opposing Inkbrush was charging in from the side. Sighing, she sank back into a trail of purple and began to swim towards the advancing Brush. Looks like this will be a long day.

* * *

 

“Well, we tried.” Allison sighed as she watched the scoreboard that displayed their defeat. She had to give credit to where it was due; that Roller sure was a great Turf Warrer, and the Hydra Splatling of their team proved to be a great leader too and showed some great skills.

“Eh, we’ll get it next time, partners.” The aforementioned leader spoke up, taking the defeat in stride. “I know you all fought hard just now.”

“Thanks, Leora.” The Bamboozler, a young baseball fan, said. “It’s really hard trying to not let the salt drown you in intense Turf Wars like these.”

“Eh, I’ve had my own fair share of losses before making it to A-.” Leora shrugged. “Things like these become common as you climb up the ladder, Arthur. Anyway,” She turned over to Allison, who was tinkering around with the gears of her weapon. “You're a pretty speedy Roller, partner. Care to introduce yourself to me and my friend here?” She pulled Arthur over to her side by his shoulder, against his grumbles. “I told you to not do that, Leora!”

“Oh, the name’s Allison, casual B+ rank Roller.” She quickly took care of the formalities. “You and this boy here are friends?”

“Yeah, he’s my teammate on my to-be team. I’ve been running around, trying to assemble a team to bring into League.” Leora explained. “I found playing solo to be kinda boring. Feels great when you have your friends Turf Warring by your side, you know? Now, you are pretty freakin’ powerful for a ‘casual’ Roller, so I'm offering you a place on my team. What do you say?”

The idea intrigued Allison. For all her life, she had never been on an official team and had always been like most Inklings; freelancing from one team of random Inklings to another. However, again, she was a _casual_ Roller and the idea of official Leagues and such sounded dull to her. She liked a carefree life that did not require official stuff; that is her element. She hated to disappoint people and dash their hopes, but she’d have to this time.

“Honestly, that made me rather intrigued, and I thank you for the offer, but I'm gonna pass. I don’t really like the idea of being in an official team; I prefer freelancing and working with random Inklings I’d bump into. I'm sorry, but no.”

A hint of disappointment spread across Leora’s expression, although she tried to hide it, and believe me, she did, “O-Oh. That’s a real shame; we could make it big in League, you know.”

“I know, but again, I don’t like official stuff. I'm just a casual player who seeks a little fun.”

“Oh well, it’s alright if you don’t.” Leora’s expression returned to confident. “People have different tastes, I guess. I’ll just keep watching and recruiting players I like, like you. Really, you are really powerful for a ‘casual’ player, I'm not exaggerating it.”

“You are.” Jeremy suddenly spoke up, and immediately Leora wrapped her left arm around his neck, but not so hard that she’d choke him, and balled her right hand into a fist before rubbing it on his head, giving him a noogie. “Shut up! I'm not!”

“Come on, you obviously are!”

 _Quite the dynamic pair of friends they are._ Allison chuckled quietly at the sight before her. The Bamboozler shook his head and waved goodbye at her, before exiting the lobby. Allison was about to do the same when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see the Roller boy that gave her so much trouble just now, his large grin spread across his face like a certain cat in a children’s story that Allison had long forgotten. Upon closer inspection, she noticed he had several piercings on the edges of his ears. Well, piercings are a traditional Arufuran decoration, anyway. “Sup, mate? I'm sure ya’ remember me.” The arrogance was overflowing from his tone. He was definitely proud of his victory.

“Oh, I do, don’t worry.” Allison decided to play along, while Leora and Jeremy had stopped bickering and just watched the two Rollers begin to converse. “You're quite a persistent hunter, aren’t you?”

“Eh, the word ‘hunter’ doesn’t suit me. ‘Pirate’ should fit better.”

“Whatever. Anyway, you gave us, especially me, some trouble back there. You like sneaking up to the backs of your enemies a lot, I noticed.”

“Oh, I do. I am dubbed the backdoor pirate of the Rising Tsunami for a reason, lass.”

“The what now?” Jeremy asked as he raised an eyebrow. The pirate’s grin got even wider and he began to chuckle, “The Rising Tsunami; we are a ferocious team that turns the tides of Turf War and dominate the splattlefield like a relentless tsunami! If you ever battle against us, you're going to have a bad time trying to get past us.” This guy sure is arrogant as all hell. Allison simply sighed and shook her head, a bit exasperated by his pride, before she spoke, “Heh, whatever you say, buddy. Great job winning this Turf War. I’ll have to go now; my brother’s waiting for me.” She turned and quickly dashed out of the lobby without saying goodbye.

“There you are!” Nicholas spread his arms to accept a hug from his dear sister. “How was Turf War?”

“Eh, there was this Roller that gave me a lot of trouble. Not much luck today.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. For me, there was this cursed Squiffer that somehow kept splatting me from the most unlikely places at the most unlikely times!”

“Well, no offense, but you _really_ have to improve yourself against Chargers.” Allison knew that good Chargers were always her brother’s archenemy. “Come on, you have Dualies, for cod’s sake! You should be able to dodge Chargers easily!”

“I'm trying, okay?” Nicholas knew his sister did not buy it, but really, he had been trying to improve. “It’s just they love to hide somewhere I can’t see from my side and then splat me out of nowhere!”

“Excuses, excuses! Every Charger hides somewhere and supports from afar. They never charge into the battlefield; that’s not their job. You must always pay attention to your surroundings, that’s what Mom says.”

“Yes yes, I know. Come on, let’s go home, shall we? It’s getting late.”

“Sure, let’s go.” With that, the two siblings Super Jumped from the Square, back to their home.

* * *

 

“Welp, home sweet home.” Nicholas announced with joy as he strolled into the cozy room. “I say you take a bath first, sis. You're normally faster. I can take out some of the food in the meantime.”

“Okay, you said so.” Allison stretched herself and walked into her room, closing the door behind her. Nicholas opened up the small fridge and brought out a plate of salad and some leftover chicken with barbeque sauce, his sister’s favorite. He was about to put the chicken into the oven for reheating when his phone vibrated within his pocket. He brought it out and saw a message from a familiar face:

_“How’s your sister, Nicky?”_

It was this message from Callie that made him remember what he told himself to do. His finger hovered above the virtual keyboard of his phone for a few seconds as he thought whether or not he should push her and ask some probably sensitive questions, but curiosity killed the agent and he began to type out his question.

_“Callie… can you please tell me what happened between my sister and the Splatoon?”_

She began to type back. Moment of truth.

_“Do you really want to know?”_

_Why is she dodging my question?_ Nicholas was done having this hidden from him. He was set to find out the truth, even if he may not like it.

_“Tell me, please. I just want to know what happened to her.”_

And what she told him opened up to him the burdens of being a secret agent assigned to use force to prevent conflicts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I'm back! Sorry for this rather short and uneventful chapter, but I promise you, this is the start of something heavy. We shall dive into the nightmare that Allison buried behind her. What is it, you ask? It'll be revealed in the next chapter.
> 
> By the way, characters of two Splatoon writers made a cameo here. Try deducing the characters and their creators!


End file.
